Abandon The Sinking Ship Client: Work With ALREADY Successful Clients (They Need You Too)

In recent years, I’ve been working with a new kind of client. Yeah, yeah, you can say, “Fabienne, you’ve talked to me about ideal clients before. I know that I need to figure out who my IDEAL client is.” But wait! This is different. Today, I want to share with you the exact KIND of client I work with and why you should too.

For years, I’ve attracted a whole host of clients, many of them startup entrepreneurs who were in desperation mode and needed to be saved. These people needed clients BADLY and looked to me to hand them a life-raft to stay in business.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’ve ALWAYS been really clear that I don’t work with just anyone that comes my way. I’ve always cherry-picked my clients and almost always worked with people:

1. I would like and enjoy working with,
2. who had a need for my services and recognized it,
3. who would get great results from working with me,
4. who would write me great testimonials and refer others to me, and
5. who recognized the VALUE of my work and didn’t negotiate my fees.

But recently, I’ve had an epiphany. I’ve found the types of clients I now attract are people of a totally different caliber: the ALREADY SUCCESSFUL CLIENT.

Now, you might say, “Fabienne, if they’re already successful, happy or healthy, why would they PAY to work with me?” I used to think this too. If they’ve GOT clients, why would they want to work with me to work on getting MORE clients?

Well, here’s my experience with ALREADY successful clients, let it be for Client Attraction, finances, health, or whatever. The best client:

- is already doing well and wants to do EVEN better, - has a desire, rather than a DESPERATE need, - knows an opportunity will be missed if they don’t act on this desire,
could do it on their own, but would rather do it faster and better, with your help, - understands the VALUE of working with someone for greater accuracy and competency, - is accustomed to investing in education and expertise, and
- is usually more low-maintenance because the desperation isn’t there.

And you know what? I recognize MYSELF in this description. I’ve worked with MANY coaches, consultants, health practitioners, financial teachers, etc. And each time, I could have done or learned whatever we did together ON MY OWN, should I have wanted to take the time. But why would I, when I could learn things faster and better, just by working with a mentor who’s already been there?

So, I hired them and paid their fees, happily. The results were outstanding because we did things faster and better tha
I could have ever done on my own.

That said, when you ask yourself, “Would successful people actually PAY for me to help them with this?,” understand that there are so many successful- people-next-door who prefer to have things done well AND quickly, and who prefer to not do things on their own (even though they could).

When you think about it that way, would you be willing to market to those in your target audience that are already somewhat successful, healthy, knowledgeable, etc.? Would you change your marketing materials to speak specifically to those people?

Your Assignment:

Consider marketing to these people because they’re much more fun to work with.Primarily, you don’t have to educate them from scratch. Because they ALREADY know what to do in most cases, it’s easy to work with them. What you bring them is often more about accountability, brainstorming, feedback, resources, structure, etc.

If you’re working with the sinking-ship kind of client, consider switching to the I-want-a-bigger-ship kind of client instead. You will find it easier and much more gratifying. Best of all, they’re usually willing to pay a little more, because they understand the value of getting outside help to succeed. It’s a win-win! Try it.